halloweentownooc | Test Drive

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Test Drive

Test Drive Meme

Welcome to the Halloween Town Test Drive.

This test drive is meant to provide those who are interested in applying to the game an opportunity to not only experience the setting and mechanics, but to interact with players and characters already in the game!

The threads on the Test Drive Meme may be used for both sample sections of the applications and those already in game may use the threads here to supplement up to ten comments for their AC regardless of whether the player you threaded with applied.

It is up to the discretion of each individual player on whether they would like to use what happens here on the Test Drive Meme as their IC intro into the game.

PLEASE REMEMBER: The monster your character picks will not be official until you are accepted into the game. This is your opportunity to try out all sorts of monster types until you find the one that suits you and your character best!

And without further ado:

"Welcome our dear guests! We've been waiting for you!"

The Prompts:

Prompt 1 - Arrival: Having just arrived to Halloween Town, you may feel a little queasy. That is entirely natural. You're in a giant circular room with whatever it is you may have brought with you. A very tall figure walks out of the shadows and he's incredibly pale... that is until you realize the hand reaching out to you is not bone-thin, oh no, it is actual bone. Meet the ruler of Halloween Town and the king of Halloween, Jack Skellington. He greets you with a big smile and exclaims with joy how happy he is that you made it and how much happier he is to see you, one hand held out in greeting and the other holding the Jack o' Laptop he has ready for you. As you're their second set of guests, they have a better idea of what to expect now with all of you!

"Ah you're here you're here! Just as intact as the last ones, good good. So terribly sorry about your turning into a monster, we didn't know that would happen, and we aren't quite sure how to fix it."

Although perhaps someone should tell Jack he should warn about that in the letter, assuming you even read it.

Perhaps you stay to listen to him explain what awaits you and he will then happily escort you outside into the town to provide you a quick explanation before he excuses himself to greet the other new arrivals, leaving you to explore the town. Or, perhaps, the mere sight of a skeleton was... not what you were expecting and you ran out screaming before he can get more than a "Ah you're here-" out.

Regardless:

Prompt 2 - The Town: Whether you ran out screaming or were guided out into the town, there are most certainly monsters and ghouls all about and it so turns out, you're one now too! If you were patient enough to wait for an explanation, you know that they are the residents of this holiday. If you ran out screaming? Well, you might be getting more than a few scares- we mean... stares. But the town is just waiting for you to explore!

Even if you're frightened and wish to test out your new abilities, we wouldn't recommend attacking any of the citizens; newborn monster that you are. We wouldn't want you to be a spirit so early in your visit!

But if you're curious about what you are and what that means you can always head to...

Prompt 3 - The University: Whether or not you've been in Halloween Town for several days or just an hour, no one has tried to attack you (unless you've attacked them first, of course) even though the zombies eat brains and the vampires drink blood.

But that isn't what you seek, what you want is at the Halloween Town University. It stands tall and imposing and seems to have perpetual clouds around its towers. But it's a harmless building otherwise, but of course, it's haunted since spirits and ghouls are town residents, but near everything is haunted in Halloween Town.

Unfortunately for you, however, there isn't exactly a map nearby (though they exist). Your best bet is to ask for help for the information you seek.

But if you aren't the asking sort:

Prompt 4 - Monster Maintenance Class 101: Welcome to Monster Maintenance Class, where you're taught the proper way to sharpen your fangs and how to keep your claws looking sleek. The professor, Professor Waterhouse, is a goblin standing over seventeen feet tall, with additional three-feet long horns lightly grazing the ceiling, and puncturing said ceiling every now and then. When he sees you, and more importantly, when he sees you trying to leave, he growls at you being late. Best take a seat.

And we wouldn't recommend you try to leave in the middle of the lesson, for you see, leaving before the lesson is done results in a very... angry professor. And he's going to chase you down the halls and drag you right back to your seat again and again until you learn to respect him and not to interrupt his class again.

Don't worry, another student assures, the class is only an hour and a half long.

But! If you do ask for directions either after the class or before and avoid Professor Waterhouse completely, you will find where you wish to go:

Prompt 5 - The Library: Halloween Town University boasts the largest library in the entire town. Their boasting is not just hot air either, it's five stories tall with a basement that is nice and dank. The library is like any university library and has a section for every monster and every holiday. Spirits tend to maintain the books and are incredibly sour if you make too much noise, but they are quite helpful otherwise. The library follows the Dewey Decimal system and you may even find some classical favorites like Shakespeare, Dickens, Darwin, Austen, and everything else from 123 and A to Z.

There is one exception to these organized, easy to exit, and easier to navigate aisles.

The basement.

The basement would be better referred to as the catacombs, in fact, France would be impressed by the university's catacombs, and there are more than just spiders and rats down there.

What is that crunching noise under your shoe? Did you just step on rat bones? Is that a human skull? It's hard to tell in the darkness with only the light coming from greatly distanced torches.

The further and further away from the library stairs you get, the much more likely you are to get helplessly lost.

Hopefully a spirit librarian will float by and help you get out.

Hopefully they float by within the next day or so, unless you weren't quiet in their precious library, they have a nasty habit of holding grudges, unfortunately.

Please read through the Rules and FAQs thoroughly before playing.

Thank you and have fun!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

((OOC: I apologize for the repost on the first two bits: I barely got going with the last round since life ate me right after I posted, and I hated for those bits to go to waste.))

1 - Arrival (As Ragdoll)

Well, that was strange. He thought that bottle on his workbench was something that Dan had left as a reminder to him to eat or drink something once in a while (when he'd much rather give himself a dose of diluted ReAgent to keep himself going without the dull affairs of eating or drinking... or sleeping, for that matter). But the next thing he knew, he'd gone woozy and everything had slid sideways, dumping him into... wherever he'd ended up. That talking skeleton in the pin-striped tailcoat has to come as a result of a dream, but it all feels far too real. And what on earth kind of device has his host given him?

Better yet: why does he now have large sutures on his wrists and other places on his arms, and while he knows he doesn't get much sun (not in the misty Miskatonic Valley, and especially not with his nocturnal habits), yet that doesn't explain the bluish tinge to it....

"This begs an explanation..." he murmurs.

2 - The Town (As Zombie)

Now that he has started to settle in, Herbert has also started to make his way - his slow way - about the town, exploring it as much as he can when he doesn't cover much ground at a time. It looks like some crazy version of Salem at Halloween, only with the decor, costuming and venues multiplied exponentially in their Halloween-iness. It has a weird charm to it, but he can't really take it seriously. Sooner or later, whatever Dan put into that drink has to wear off and he'll wake up... except that it all looks and feels too real for him to chalk it up to mere chemical sources...

3 - The University (As Ragdoll)

Well, it's not Miskatonic University, but it's a higher place of learning, and something that lies vaguely in his element. And considering his... sudden transformation, he figures it's in his best interest to learn more about it before this goes on any longer...

He might be loping into the building when his lower right leg detaches itself from the stitching at his knee and slips out of his pant leg, hopping away. He promptly faceplants on the floor, his glasses skittering away. "Dammit! Come back here!" he yells after his errant limb, flailing after it with one hand while he reaches for his eyeglasses with the other...

As luck would have it, Rika just so happened to be passing through the halls of the university, having sat through one of the classes that wasn't about scaring. While she did have bright pink hair and black tipped pointed ears, she was also clearly a ragdoll like Herbert, her skin an obvious pale blue.

She noticed him on the ground first, but before she could go to him to help and figure out what had happened, what she could only assume to be his leg tried hopping past her. She picked it up with one hand and closed the distance between them to crouch next to him, offering her other hand to help him. "They can be annoying at times. Are you okay?"

He manages to pull his glasses back on, blinking behind them a bit, as if to clear his sight. "I should just sew these things onto my face and be done with it," he murmurs. Then he looks up into the face of the pink-haired ragdoll before him, before glancing to his errant limb, now likely twitching in her hand as if irritated at getting caught. "Yes... it's an intriguing state, but it is... a most exasperating one. I'll live: I've had worse things happen than my leg going walkabout. Literally," he says, grumpily, and he'll hold out one hand to take it back.

Though Rika clearly heard his murmur, she didn't understand the statement. Instead, she kept quiet about it and handed back the leg when he held out his hand for it. She looked more interested at his latest statement, and voiced her curiosity. "You've had worse things happen than a limb detaching itself from your body? What kinds of things?"

"Experiments gone wrong: I've had some quite literally blow apart in my face," he says rummaging in one pocket of his trousers with one hand, while he takes the limb from her -

-And as soon as he takes it, his foot promptly kicks him in the face. Hard. It's clearly not a happy limb, for whatever reason. "Whoomf!" he grunts, and he might fall over backwards.

Rika frowned at his errant leg and quickly reached out to steady him. "It doesn't seem to like you too much..." It was fine in her own hand. Maybe if she reached out with her free hand to hold the foot still, it will help?

"What kind of experiments did you do?"

"At least it's better than the time my hand came loose and tried to throttle me while I was reading," he says, once she's helped him back up. "Would you be so kind as to hold that foot still while I sew it back on?

"As for the experiments, I was working on a means to bring life back to the dead... or to defeat it entirely," he says, straightforward, with a blunt honesty.

Rika was a little startled at what had happened with his hand. When her own parts just so happened to detach, they weren't violent against her. "Did you do something to upset the parts?" It was a very strange question to ask, but she didn't know what else it could be. For now, she nodded at his request and held his foot firmly.

When he mentioned what kind of experiments he worked on, Rika didn't appear disturbed. She'd been raised by the computer that created her and an android, so she could understand a scientific desire. "I've been told that ragdolls, at least the ones native to this world, are 'reanimated forms'. There may be similarities between your research and the research needed to create ragdolls. Maybe you could talk to Dr. Finklestein. He's the one that created them."

"No idea what causes that, though I'd be the first to describe my own personal core temperament as 'choleric', to use that archaic term," he says, taking a spool of thick thread from his trouser pocket along with a large needle. "I'd hardly expect any part of me to be any different, considering that these parts seem to have minds of their own.

"I've wondered that, if, when I drank that potion that opened the way into this place, it somehow reacted with something in my mind, the notions of my research, picking up on the neurochemical markers in those thoughts," he says, threading the needle, cutting off a length with the edge of one fingernail and setting to work, stitching his limb back on. It might twitch, almost as if the stitching or being held irritates it, but it doesn't try to break loose of Rika's grasp. "And since it picked up on that, it affected, well, my present form."

The Town

[Okay, officially the weirdest dream she's ever had. Good thing Usagi isn't here, she'd be bawling her eyes out. But, hey, maybe she is. Maybe this weird dream has everyone in it!]

Usagi-chan! ... Rei? Ami? Minako?

[She'll even take the cats at this point. She's going up to windows, poking her head in doors... Jeez, the costumes in this place are amazing.]

I hope I can remember this place when I wake up. Some of this stuff would be pretty cute to sew. And the candy they've got here is pretty nice... I should ask who makes this stuff...

[She then laughs, unwrapping another piece.]

Dream candy. What am I thinking? Heh heh heh...

((OOC: I haven't decided if I'm going from the manga or from Crystal, but leaning towards manga))

The candy is quite nice.

[Alice agreed as she had her own lollipop, having heard the woman but not recognizing her.]

There's candy here we don't even have back home! Have you ever heard of candied corn? It doesn't actually look like corn, or taste like it, but it's delicious!

[Ah, a dream girl! She kinda reminds her of Usagi.]

Yeah, I've heard of that... Man, now I could really go for some. And... lollipops too.

[Alice pulled out a wrapped lollipop from her pinafore pocket and handed it to Makoto with a smile. She may not be a Trick-or-Treater, but she was still seven with a sweet-tooth.]

Here, it's cherry flavored!

Oh, hey, thanks! I owe you one.

[She takes it, and unwraps it, musing.]

I wish I could make stuff this good in real life.

You can cook candy? [Alice looked up at her, smiling.] What sort do you make!

Well, there's pocky, green tea truffles, and candied fruits are always good...

Pocky? Green tea truffles? [She tilted her head.] I know what candied fruits are but I've never heard of the first two. Whatever are they?

Pocky? Seriously? You've never heard of it?

Huh... never dreamed about foreigners before, this should be good.

Should I have? Is it something very important?

It's only the most famous Japanese candy ever. I thought it was big outside of the country too... Ah well.

Anyway, it's a long, thin wafer stick, and half of it is coated in chocolate. It's like a stick of candy. The only problem is, you can never have just one!

Oh it sounds delicious! [She laughed.] And isn't that the case with all candy?

But perhaps they have some here!

Well, I suppose we could take a look... It does come in different colors and flavors, too!

What sorts? [She asked as she came closer.] Could it come in flavors like... like strawberries?

Are you kidding? Strawberry is one of the most popular flavors! It comes in this really cute pink color!

Pink? But strawberries are bright red, still, do you think we could make them? Or that they might have them here?

[Rika saw the other teen as she was heading back towards her own place. The brunette seemed new, at least Rika had never seen her before. Deciding to introduce herself and offer to help the new girl become acquainted with the town, Rika walked closer.]

Hello, are you new here? This isn't a dream, though the blue and white stripped wrapped candy is one of my favorites.

[Hold the phone. She stops, just before candy could be plopped into her mouth.]

Wait... what?!

Ah... Please calm down. It'll be okay. Everyone here is really friendly.

I can't be here, in this... whatever it is! I have a huge test tomorrow! If I'm absent for that, I'm going to fail!

Sorry, I don't know how to get back. What are you studying? There's a university here. It may have a class for what you're learning.

That's not the same thing!

Ugh... forget it. I'll find a way out of here, even if I have to tear this place apart.

Please don't, no one meant any harm. You can try talking to Jack or Sally about why you need to leave. They may know how to send you back.

Jack or Sally? Who're they?

They're the leaders of this town and Jack was the one that invited us here. I think they would be the ones most likely to know the way back.

I think 'invited' isn't the word I'd use... but all right.

... This still feels like one weird dream, though.

What word would you use?

[Was there another word to explain Jack's letter? He'd even used the word 'invite' on the letter itself.

There was nothing Rika could do to prove to the other girl that this wasn't a dream. Maybe she would just realize it after a few days. Though that wouldn't help with her worries about her test.]

Whether you choose to believe this is a dream or not, I would still recommend that you talk to one of them if you really need to get back to where you're from...

I got it, no worries.

[She rolls one arm, hand on her shoulder.]

I just can't stay here any longer than I have to.

Did you not want to explore this place a little bit before you left? There's much more to this town than simply the center here.

... All right, I'm willing to listen.

I've mentioned the university already. There are many classes there, some seem to be unique to this world, though this is the first world I've traveled to.

My favorite place to look at is the pumpkin patch. There's more than just pumpkins there and it's the most colorful place around this area. When I first arrived, they hosted a pumpkin carving contest with a lucky potion for the winner. The pumpkins became animated and followed us around for a while after we were done too.

[Rika smiled softly at the memory before her smile brightened a little more.]

There is also the lake. While it may not be much to look at, there are intelligent sea creatures living within. The largest is a giant squid known as 'The General'. He's very friendly but he may come as a shock to some. He has a very unique greeting, but has been taught a more proper one for those that don't prefer his own.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Test Drive

Herbert West / ReAnimator movies

3

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Makoto Kino | Sailor Moon (trick or treater)

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